Clouded Fox
by detrametal
Summary: Somewhere in my slightly off brain I asked myself what would happen in Pein and Naruto switched places? Their defining characteristics would be the same. Naruto abandoned the Village Hidden in the Leaves and now rules the Rain from his tower, for too many years has he hid behind the shadows. Now it is time to bring his plan to fruition.
1. Chapter 1

Konan wrapped her arms around her leader's chest, her blue hair at odds with the red clouds that covered his cloak "Konan, what's the matter?"

She looked into his blood red eyes, the thin predatory slits that made the other members tremble on occasion "Nothing. Just wanted to make sure you won't leave like Yahiko…"

Very slowly he leaned down and kissed her forehead "I won't leave you. I promised I wouldn't." his nose twitched and he rolled his eyes "Still peaking in on other people Jiraiya?"

The frog sage leapt down from his perch in the trees "Aw, come on! Who wouldn't want to see their pupils getting warm and cuddly!" he said with a smirk as the rain slid off his umbrella and across the already soaked ground.

The container for the fox demon rolled his eyes "Yeah, sure. Whatever. I've got to talk to Kurama, he said something about needing to find Shukaku and his container."

* * *

Kakashi Hatake looked at his team roster "Well isn't this interesting, Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha and…this is revenge for something isn't it?" he asked the Hokage.

Sarutobi laughed "I did pick them because of that eye" he said pointing to the hidden one the ninja had.

The white haired Jonin sighed "But seriously? Nagato? I could see an Uchiha because of my eye but the Rinnegan?"

* * *

Naruto opened his eyes before closing them again and allowing himself to settle deeper into his meditation, the dark ring around them the only sign that Sage mode was active. Konan sat beside him, both of them in meditative positions, Naruto's palm on her back slowly fed her a tiny stream of nature chakra, the rings around her eyes were darkening considerably but she was suffering no ill effects.

Before them was one of the members of the organization, a spy "We have contacted Yugito Nii of the Two Tails and Fu of the Seven Tails. Both of them now know of us but declined to come…I'm sorry Lord Rage, Lady Angel"

Konan spoke without opening her eyes "You did all you were asked to do. There is no need for regret. Thank you." their spy blushed and grinned as he bowed before racing out.

Jiraiya leapt down "Most of the other jinchuriki are being watched 24/7 I can't get in there without being spotted…and me, being as great as I am, well, you don't mistake me for someone else" the hermit bragged.

Even behind their closed eyelids the sage could see both his students rolling their eyes. Pulling his hand away the elder of the two said "That's enough for today Konan, you've gotten great and handling nature chakra, you just need to learn how to gather it." she nodded and he helped her to her feet. Pulling on the black cloak the leader of the Akatsuki stood tall "We have waited in the shadows long enough. We will start to assemble the team needed to complete our goals. Within a week I'll have the roster of who we need to find. Some will be mercenaries and others nobodies, but they have their place as do we all."

The two other members nodded and slipped away to wait for their orders.

* * *

Kurama was browsing the list with his partner in the white space within the seal "Well that Uchiha…the one that killed his clan, uh…"

The human of the two chuckled "Itachi?"

"Yeah, I think he'd do. You know why he did it, he displays vast amounts of love for his family and village."

Naruto nodded "We'll need somebody like him. More importantly we can make him see our angle. "

The fox scanned the names, the information from his own kin, the slugs, the snakes and the frogs filling in most of their lives "I like the two swordsmen, they'll do nicely as will the ice girl"

The other laughed "I'd hate to try to pull her away from him! What do you think of the samurai?"

There was a moment of deep thought "I like them, but I don't think we could pull any of them worth our time away from their country" With his nine tails flicking back and forth Kurama countered "What about ANBU members?"

"Naw, their loyalty is to the village and I wouldn't be able to know how far to trust them"

"Even Kakashi?"

That stopped Naruto "Having someone of his caliber would be good but he is former ANBU and holds deep ties to the dead there. If I thought we could I'd say yes but I don't want to appear before him if I think he's going to say no. Then he'll have information on us"

The fox sighed "So picky…better than how you used to be" the host chuckled uncomfortably and scratched the back of his head "What about a Hyuga? That Neji brat is bitter about his father."

"No" Naruto said firmly "If we mess with one of the village clans we'd bring the entire country down on top of us. That's why I can go after Itachi. No clan."

The calamity of wind felt his eye twitch "Well at least that Orochimaru is an idiot, there's an easy duo for us."

Smiling Naruto tilted his head "Where do you think I'm going right now?"

The white area faded and he spoke softly to himself "Okay, if I were a backstabbing snake where would I be…well I doubt Orochimaru would be there but maybe…nope. Hrm…" rubbing his chin he blinked before smacking his head "Duh!"

* * *

Kabuto and Orochimaru were in their lab when a sudden voice interrupted them "So this is where you were hiding out…it took a lot of sifting to find this place"

Both those experimenting and the experiments, the sound five, turned to see a man that they hoped not to ever see again. There was no mistaking that he-it was a monster in human skin. He stood taller than the Sannin, his black cloak with red clouds went down to his ankles where he wore the normal set of sandals. His fingertips were all that could be seen with slight claws and each one carried a ring, all of them were gold with a small colored stone with a symbol as they drummed lightly against his biceps. But what scared them the most was his face, somehow the covering up to his nose made him seem more fearsome. Under his eyes were two deep marks that looked almost like whiskers, his hair was gold and red, each thread it's own color before twisting into nine braids that trailed to the small of his back where they looped back up and down in a mind-boggling pattern. His eyes were blood. There exists no other color that it could be called. They were silted like a fox's and peered through their souls.

Even leaning causally against the doorframe it was obvious that this person had **power**. The air around him simultaneously compressed and stretched them. It made them feel as if this creature wasn't really from this plane but some demon here to play with humanity.

Kabuto hissed "Who are you?!"

Orochimaru chuckled "Now, now Kabuto it isn't polite to be so aggressive with guests even if they are so…unexpected. Though I do concur, who are you?"

Without care the man stepped into the room, the five surrounded him with their leader and his spy in the front "I'm a friend of your friend. Jiraiya often told me about you. And his failure."

The snake prodded "So you're here on behalf of the village?"

"Not the leaf" the man shot back immediately "If anything I'm here for my real home. The Rain." thinking for a moment he continued "But I do think the Leaf wants me back very much…"

The spy and the five were silent as the two continued "And why is that, mister…?"

"Rage. Rage is a fitting name for one such as myself. Born into it you see." he shifted slightly before reaching up and pulling down his collar, the fabric fell and his full face came into view. Three markings and fangs.

"Ah, the keeper of their own Tailed-Beast…I had heard that you died."

Snorting the fox man replied "Hardly…enough with the pleasantries. I'm here to take something and I won't take no for an answer."

Kimimaro leapt forward as Kabuto roared his name in reproach. With a sword of bone and used both hands in a deep and powerful downward slash. Rage responded by leaning back and letting his body sit just outside of the blade's reach. The bone wielder lashed out again and again with screams of fury. The other four jumped in and much to their ire he started to give pointers. "Kimi…mind if I call you that?"

"Yes, I mind!" screamed the normally reserved fighter.

"Eh, too bad. Kimi, you're moving way too broadly for someone of your skill. It's almost like you want to get hit. Fatass, you're draining chakra…which for someone like me is a bad idea" he let a bit of Kurama's chakra out and watched the fat man scream in pain as the hatred ridden energy ripped through his system. The group activated their level 2 seals in response to his hair-breadth dodges.

Kidomaru made a whip out of his silk used it to attack but Rage said blandly "Okay, this is boring…" an enormous blast of yellow chakra forced them back, dazing and blinding them for a moment. Pulling his arms out of his cloak and letting it fall around his waist he slid into a crouch with his arms limp and mouth curled into a snarl.

Sakon hissed out a "What the hell?" of sheer surprise. Tayuya held back a bit of blush but clamped her mouth shut. Most ninja wore a simple plate armor underneath their clothes, in fact the only exceptions they had found were Kimimaro and Rage.

Rage's bare chest held few scars-the sign of either a ninja who did not do his job or one so exceptional that he outclassed every job he took. Given that even Orochimaru was knocked back from a pure outburst of energy it was more than likely the latter. The two scars they could see were massive though, one was a large gash that ran across his stomach from one side to the other splitting his clearly defined musculature. The other was a giant mass of scar tissue over his the center of his chest, roughly the size of a fist.

A mask appeared on his face, around the outside rims of his eyes a red circle formed before it bled down to a sharp purple curve that came down the middle of his cheek and two pale green lines radiated out from each eye, one angled up and one down, slowly the mask darkened until it was pitch black.

Orochimaru stopped. He knew what this was but he really didn't believe it, the implications were too staggering to admit. "What do you want? Information? A lab?"

Rage flicked a finger and a chair was dragged from where it was implanted in the wall right behind him from the blast, sitting he smirked as his fingertips bounced off each other, it was not a pleasant thing and even the Sannin felt less like the snake and more like the mouse. "I'm taking the Uzumaki" the snake stiffened at this, clearly this one knew the full extent of his operations "And" he continued "That one as well" he said pointing a finger at the red head.

She didn't take kindly to this "Fuck you! I'm not doing anything you want! I'd rather die asshole!"

The smile fell and he dropped a hand between his knees where it rested on the seat of the chair, for a moment nothing happened. With a snap louder than anything any of the five apprentices had heard before a bolt of black lightning appeared for a second, from outside or his hand they couldn't tell, but it exploded through the mountain above them and the floor below them, sunlight flooded in and from hundreds of feet below the sound of the underground river, the hole itself was large enough that anyone there could have walked through and the edges were smooth.

Kabuto muttered "Lightning?"

Rage replied with a blank face as he pulled his jacket back up "It's more complicated than that, but yes. Lightning." he turned around and took a few steps up the stairs "Come on girl, I don't have time to waste."

Tayuya growled but looked to Orochimaru who nodded and silently rubbed the side of his neck. Spying it was then.

* * *

The clone Rage had used to gather sage chakra for his demonstration at Orochimaru's hideout smiled up at Konan "First recruit found"

The blue haired woman smiled "Who?"

He waved a hand "The brat the snake was training. Wrong of course. Her chakra's twisted because of that stupid seal and I'm going to have to break it before we get back. I don't want him being able to get into trouble at the tower"

She nodded and pressed her lips against his gently "Take care" he clone gave her a soft smile before dispelling.

Jiraiya entered the room "I take it you're still not sure of this?"

The woman shook her head "I'm entirely sure. His dream means that people like us won't drown in the mud. It means people like you would be seen like the heroes you are rather than the has-beens people call you."

The Toad Hermit scratched his head "I know that but his ways are…unorthodox at best. At worst he'll be punished under the full might of all the nations."

"If he succeeds, not even at best, we'll finally have some measure of peace and won't have to worry about being stabbed in the back every moment of our lives"

* * *

As soon as they had left the hidden lab the two had started walking. That had been nearly eight hours ago. Neither of them had volunteered to speak first this long and the redhead was about to burst "Okay, I give. Was this some sort of fuckin' test or something?!"

Rage looked around the dense forest around the road and flopped down "No, not really." she heard a rough grinding before he pulled his arm out of the torso of his cloak and held out a bag "Jawbreaker?"

With a look of disbelief she asked "That's what you've been doing for eight hours?"

He shook his head "Nope, just the past three. Trying to figure out what flavor these are supposed to be."

"You mean we could have talked the entire time?" he nodded and she slumped "Why am I not surprised?"

"Actually" her new…master? Leader? Started "We're here to keep an appointment."

Before she could ask what kind Rage's form flickered in and out of focus several times before he pulled his cloak to his waist and allowed the mask to cross his face and a single red tail out.

" _Kurama…think one'll be enough?"_

" _I don't know, I was hoping you wouldn't need any"_

 _Shrugging the human replied "He's gone insane. You think I like this any more than you do?"_

A large turtle covered in spikes burst out of the forest and roared as a swarm of ninja surrounded it. A woman in a blue dress with red hair dropped beside Rage "Now it's your fight." she looked like she had a mouthful of blood "And in exchange you'll get what you asked"

Rage's face was blank as he grabbed her hand and gently kissed her knuckles "I will do what I have promised Lady Mei." the lady blushed and made a shrill sound and the ninja surrounding the turtle darted back.

* * *

In a pure white space three entities sat "Yagura's gone insane, he's been controlled for so long and the controller overloaded him."

Rage looked very concerned "Isobu…are you okay?"

The three tailed turtle sighed "I've been better. Yagura used to be all right. You know, as far as containers go." shaking his massive head the turtle went on "Just do it and I'll try to get to that tower of yours" Kurama's nose touched Rage and he nodded.

* * *

Rage's body seemed to become more animalistic, his crouch now brushed his knuckles against the ground and his fangs were so long that the extended past his mouth, each braid traced down his back before running along the top of a tail, one per braid. All the ninja were settled into the trees some distance away.

This was a fight for monsters.

Yagura let out a torrent that leveled part of the forest and had the onlookers leaping back from the fight. Many looked around in horror, the clearing was now nearly a quarter of a mile wide. Rage, however, hadn't moved but he gripped his forearm and a ball of wind the size of a shadow windmill shuriken formed in his palm and darkened until it was pitch black and lightning arced off it. Teleporting forward the human slammed his hand into the former leader and cracked his shell right behind the head before being shaken off by the thrashing turtle.

Inaudible to all others the container of nine hissed "Shit, this isn't working…I'm going to have to use it."

Kurama agreed "But we're not going to use that form."

"No. So I'm going to need a few seconds and you're going to have to do the seals"

Sighing the fox split himself into Yin and Yang and both started darting through the equivalent of seals at blazing speeds.

In the real world Ao's eyes widened and he jerked his head to the side to keep from vomiting at the tremulous wave of colors colliding and mixing and splitting and reforming only for the cycle to repeat. The yellow and red were the primary but they were mixing with at least four other colors before it stabilized into a storm cloud gray.

"Get ready, something big is happening" the sensor said as the well of chakra that had started at the core of Rage had grown until it eclipsed that of the Turtle.

None of them caught the technique name, something he never said, but for all of them it was ingrained into their memories for the rest of their lives.

 _Devil Storm_

* * *

Rage dodged Yagura's claws by inches as he felt the two foxes finish molding the massive amount of chakra needed. Taking a deep breath his chest expanded to an impossible degree before he let out a roar that stunned even the giant turtle, with the roar came a tidal wave of black wind and the former mizukage was easily lifted off his feet and thrown into the tornado that formed as lightning stuck repeatedly and water and ice blasted against his shell at incredible pressure. Chunks of earth, over a ton each, buffeted him as they were ignited into fiery masses.

But no matter how devastating the debris of the storm it would never reach the level of the storm itself. The wind was starting peeling his armor off when the truth of the wind came out to his maddened mind- the wind was a continuous stream of tailed-beast bombs endowed with wind chakra.

Though Yagura was tough, nearly invincible for the average ninja in this state the jutsu that hit him was designed to destroy everything in it's path. Human, fortress, god, demon. All of it. In the end a very human body fell to the ground, lacerations covering his body.

The others, including Tayuya, circled the body. Mei touched the neck looking for a pulse as Ao looked for any chakra movement. Both of them gave a negative and the former watched as Rage pulled his jacket up "You've held up your end of the deal. One meeting."

One of the others with her laughed "That's it? One meeting?"

She shook her head and reached for a scroll "No. Nuibari." the group was shocked into silence. With a puff of smoke the stitching sword appeared in her hand before she gave it to Rage. He swung the sword in a circle beside him once before he slid the legendary sword between his back and his jacket.

Kissing her knuckles once again Rage bowed "Call on me if you need any of my services"

Mei's blush wasn't nearly as well hidden as she would have liked "If I see fit."

"Of course Mizukage" he replied before walking away with Tayuya at his side.

* * *

It was only a half hour later that Rage stopped for the night "Here's a good spot" he noted as he stepped off the road a good bit before rolling his shoulders. His red eyes lit upon the musician's face "Rest while I gather the wood"

She turned to him "A fire? Here? Are you batshit crazy?"

His eyes, the only thing visible, showed no signs of agitation "Yagura ran wild in this forest only an hour ago. It'll be empty for some time yet"

She growled "Fine…" she watched as he seemed to amble about carelessly "Why did you choose me?"

His eyes met hers and she couldn't help but notice that the red seemed a bit less harsh "When you survived Orochimaru's trials an informant of mine relayed some interesting information that he overlooked."

Tayuya stared at him for a moment "What do you want?"

He straightened "Hmm?"

"Why bother taking me from Orochimaru? Why bother with this other person?"

Even with his mouth hidden she knew Rage was smirking at her "How much do you trust me?"

She gritted her teeth "Next to none-Hell, I don't think I'm going to sleep tonight"

"Then I can't tell you"

She let out an inglorious "Huh?"

He was rubbing his forehead "My dream has to deal with making a place where I don't have to worry everyday about some bastard putting a knife in my back, where I don't have to worry that anyone I grow close to may have their throat slit. I can't tell you anything unless I have assurance that you have the same dream I do."

The wood was arranged in a tent-like shape, Rage stuck a finger in a gap between pieces and smoke started to pour out of the spaces before a fire took over. "Tayuya, come here I'm going to take off your seal"

She blinked "What? You can do that?" she couldn't help the smile that crossed her face, nor the lilt in her voice.

He nodded and she darted over as she pulled down her shirt so he could access the seal. He stared at it for several minutes but she didn't say anything as he was muttering to himself, the occasional caught word would be something like "hidden trap" or "overflow" and "explosion". Sighing he stepped back "I'll need a minute. I need to summon the Four Crows"

She blinked "What the fuck are the four crows?"

"The Four Crows are creatures that have seen the beginning of the world and will be there for it's death and as their kin they will feast on it's corpse."

His left hand started to bleed before he made a sign- instead of the normal cloud that summoned a creature a large array of circles and lines appeared around them and a large ocarina made of bone was in his hand. The song he played was a dirge that bored into her mind before pressing her to the precipice of blacking out before it ended.

As her vision cleared she wished it hadn't.

Surrounding them were four giant crows, easily twenty feet tall, each one was partially decayed and the stench was overpowering, but their eyes looked down on her as if she was nothing, less than the grain of sand at their feet.

The first opened it's beak and the scent of putrefaction was even stronger "What do you want Cub?"

Rage stood in front of her and said in a voice that wasn't his "What makes you think it's the Cub who wants something?"


	2. Chapter 2

Tayuya stared at the man in front of her in a mixture of awe, fear and…chilling inferiority. His fight with the Four Crows had rendered her unconscious again- just the overflow of lethal intent had caused her to black out.

When she had come to the Crows were bowing to Rage who held a large feather like a spear, the shaft was a long as he was and the tip completely intact, odd considering the state of the beasts that it supposedly came from, before he did a set of seals that reverse summoned the large birds meaning he had formed a contract.

Then came his scroll. After summoning it- _a summoning for a scroll_ \- it became apparent why. What she determined to be a summoning for a scroll was actually a dimensional rift for part of the scroll to come out of confinement, the paper was as tall as he was and filled with more summon circles, one of which had an open hand which she quickly learned meant 'empty' when he put the feather into it, for a second before he banished it she saw a now closed hand with a feather underneath it.

He turned around and now she saw the deep gashes on his chest healing at an impossible rate. This is where she found herself. Rolling his neck and allowing several loud cracks to echo out he said "Got what I needed. The seal will be gone in just a few minutes."

Nodding in silence she noted that his right middle finger now had a band of black around the base. It flared to life as he bit it and blood flowed down his finger and he started making an array by hand using blood for the area immediately around the mark then switching to ink down the rest of her body. Staring at him in apprehension yet again she watched him make one seal before tapping the curse mark like a button.

Her mind filled with static in a moment before it passed and she glanced at her shoulder which looked deeply sunburned but nothing else "That's it?" she asked feeling very under whelmed.

Rage calmly made himself comfortable against a tree "Tayuya, I've trained with a grand master of seals and have studied the works of those who both invented seals and were the best." closing his eyes he allowed himself to slide into sleep.

The redhead slowly made her way through the night with fitful dozing.

* * *

The compound where the next member Rage wished to recruit was only a few hours away and the duo made their way quickly. Tayuya learned that he was an amazing sensor when they came to what looked like a sheer rock wall he looked at it for a minute before he turned to her "You know how to get in?"

She blinked "It's a fuckin' rock wall. You don't get in it." she said with a chuckle at 'rock'. Apparently this guy was a bit off.

He turned back around and stared at it for a moment before he flickered the giant scroll she had seen earlier and summoned the feather. In a series of moves too fast for her the tip had sliced through the rock revealing a passage behind. Almost as if in direct rebuke of what it had just done the tip fluttered lightly in the wind before he sealed it and walked towards the now open door.

Various people came running but they all slid to a stop Rage stepped in, his overwhelming pressure forcing them to acknowledge that fighting him would be the last thing they did "Bring Karin here. Now."

The head of the compound was shaken but said "There's nobody of that name here."

Having none of their lies Rage tilted his head "Young girl with red hair, an Uzamaki…if it would help second door on the left-she's hiding beneath her cot." the head looked on the verge of passing out "Never lie to me again." he snarled while stepping past and further into the hall.

Each door was thick metal with two huge locks that she knew were beyond most ninja's power to break. Tayuya watched as he stopped in front of the door and gently touched the handle and almost like magic it slid forward and inside sat a skinny girl with hair as red as her own.

Rage knelt and offered her his hand "Come, I mean you no harm…cousin."

Stepping forward Karin asked "W-Who are you?"

What happened next was only sensed by Karin. Rage's chakra softened and gently reached out to her, wrapping her in a warmth that invigorated her down to her bones and offered protection.

She stood up shakily "I'm not leaving without Kito!" came out in a whispering roar. Rage nodded and she flew out the door with Tayuya being forcibly shoved outside the door. Karin ran to the head guard "Where's Kito's cell?"

For a solid minute the guard glared down at her and she shrank back into herself before Rage stepped in front. In a flash the guard was a foot higher off the ground than his height and the hand around his neck was very strong. A subtle squeeze and the message was clear "I believe she asked you a question."

The guard pointed to a cell three down from where they stood. He was dropped and the trio moved to the door. As it opened Karin said to Rage and Tayuya "Kito won't survive without me, he's too nice." then she called out "Kito! C'mon we're leaving!"

Kito was a tall, thin man probably in his upper teens with a light green hair buzz cut and pale green eyes stared at them slackly, his face thin and unremarkable. He ambled forward with a pleasant light in his eyes before smiling happily at Karin who grinned back. His fingers danced in the air for a second and Karin nodded several times before looking at Rage "Where are we going?"

The answer was given as a brief "Hang on to me." all three of them grabbed his cloak, Kito by his shoulder, Karin on the side and Tayuya hesitated before grabbing the middle of his back tightly.

* * *

Konan and Jiraiya waited on the bottom floor of the Tower, the walls were covered in seals and arrays all designed to amplify the small seal that in the middle of the floor. The Flying Thunder God Seal.

Suddenly four people were in the middle of the room. Everyone but Rage was on their hands and knees at the feeling of ripping through the void instantaneously. Walking over calmly and kissing Konan on her forehead Rage said to the duo "Things went well. Two confirmed though Karin wouldn't leave without Kito." he gestured to the two in question.

Jiraiya watched Kito move his fingers before laughing "You bet kid! We're the strongest of the strong!"

Kito jerked around before staring wide-eyed at the Toad Sage. Karin smiled "You understand sign language!"

Rage looked at the group "Konan is my second in command and Jiraiya was my teacher. Both of them will take care of you."

Tayuya didn't really care who these people were since they got rid of the curse mark but Karin and Kito did "W-who are you?" the red head asked finally realizing her actions. Her first thought had been escape but now that she had…

Rage left leaving Konan to answer "We are those of the Village Hidden in the Rain that abhor this treacherous nature we're subjected to. Our goal is a place where none may stab us in the back, a place where none of us here are sacrificed for another's gain."

Kito's fingers fluttered _who is that guy?_

Jiraiya sighed and ran a hand over the back of his neck "You can call him Rage or Blademaster."

Tayuya's brow hitched into her hat "Blademaster?"

Konan leveled her gaze upon the quieter of the two redheads "He has mastered every type of weapon any of us knows of and collects them. Now, no more questions it is time to get you rooms and acquainted with the Tower where you'll be spending most of your time."

* * *

Rage stepped into his private room and allowed his chakra to fill the room. Thousands of seals activated and the room was filled with various scrolls, photos, books and maps. Stepping into the connected bathroom he bathed quickly but Konan was sitting on his bed when he got out. She was gently holding a origami fox "We missed you…"

He sat next to her and she leaned her head into his chest "I didn't want to leave, I don't want to leave but I have to. I have to be the one to go and see these people."

Konan stood up and put the fox back on the bookshelf "At least take somebody with you, I know you're strong but something could still happen."

Having been through this several times before he opened his hands in front of him "Who? You and Jiraiya are the only two I trust the run thing when I'm not here and I can't take someone who doesn't know how to fight out leaving very few people, fewer you trust and none that I'm willing to take."

The blue-haired woman asked quietly "How long would it take to get Karin or Tayuya to get to a level where they could accompany you?"

Thinking for a moment Rage said "Too long. I have to get to these people now and that alone rules them out. Maybe if they trained hard for a year I could but now they'd do nothing but slow me down."

"…Then leave quickly so you can return home faster." she paused with the faintest smile on her face "Lord Naruto, Leader of the Country and Master of the Village hidden in the rain."

Sighing he asked with an equal smile "Don't you ever get bored of that?"

"No, and as long as I'm alive I'll never let you forget it." Naruto rolled his eyes but laid down on his bed with a sigh. Konan went back to the bed where she laid down, again with her head on his chest "I got them into their rooms."

Silence reigned over the room as they slowly fell asleep drunk on the fact that everyone they cared about was safe once again.

* * *

Mei watched the clock tick tirelessly towards her meeting with the Hokage. She had seen him before but meeting with one so powerful was fraying her nerves which were already bare after so many sleepless nights trying to fix what her predecessor had broken. Her only guard was Aoi who looked nearly franticly around the room "Calm down, the Hokage hasn't done anything against any village that didn't start it first."

The sensor nervously refuted "First time for everything." glancing at the desk his eye widened and he pointed at it.

Mei's own widened when she say a picture of Rage. Words died on her tongue when Hiruzen Sarutobi, the third Hokage, walked in. "Hello!" he said warmly "I'm sorry to have taken so long but the elders are a handful."

Mei smiled at him but before she could say anything Aoi seemed to erupt "How do you know Rage?"

Hiruzen sighed deeply before sitting on the couch across from the duo and lighting his pipe "That is a story that is much different then what you are expecting. Suffice to say he was very much like a grandson to me until others drove him out of the village. If you're looking for more than that I'd suggest asking him."

The elder Kage looked worried prompting Mei to say "He was doing well when he met with us."

The Hokage's aged face brightened "Thank you for telling me, I worry about him all the time. Now, let us get to what actually brought you here."

* * *

Kisame sat underneath a tree panting heavily, the narrow escape from the hunter-ninjas had been worse than he expected. While his mind wandered his eyes bore into the ground…just as a cup was sat right in his line of sight.

Jerking back and trying to grab Samehada he realized his clothes were stitched to the ground, looking up he found the answer in the long needle-like Nuibari in the hands of a man in a black cloak with red clouds that went all the way down to his feet. A clawed finger tapped his lips lightly in the universal gesture for silence.

They sat for several minutes before the sharp-trilling whistle of the White-tailed water finch echoed through the mist. The call of the hunter-nin on the trail. Kisame tensed until the minutes ticked by and nobody appeared leaving just him and the red-eyed blond who hadn't taken his eyes off the shark or moved the tip of Nuibari from the ground.

With a twitch of chakra the threads unwove themselves from Kisame's clothes and the man informed him "I made the tea extra hot so it should be perfect right now." and he sat down as well, the pot that was hidden behind his leg now was between them as was a second cup that his rescuer drank out of "I gave them a false trail and they'll be following that for awhile."

Glancing at the hilt of Samehada then deciding that if he was going to be killed it would have been before he was stitched he took the offered drink "Thanks but who are you?"

As the man drank his tea the shark was granted a view of fangs more dangerous than his own "Call me Rage. I'm here because I want to recruit you."

The shark looked at the fox "I'm a traitor, why would you think that I wouldn't stab you in the back?"

Rage smiled at the man "Because you did it so that fewer people would die. You did it according to what you thought was right. That I not only respect but admire. I'm working to protect everyone I care about."

"I no longer have anyone _I_ care about." Kisame replied "But I'm interested enough. Tell me this plan of yours and I might join you, but if I don't who's to say what will happen next?" and he gave a toothy smile.

Rage looked at him calmly "If you decide not to then there are two choices since you'll know about me. Since you're out of a job I could offer you a position simply for the pay and see where that takes us or I could kill you but either way you'd be lacking dedication or be dead which is a waste I'd rather avoid if I can."

* * *

Zabuza and Haku sat in silence as the forest surrounded them. That rat Gato was paying to do his dirty work. The young lady turned to her mentor "This is degrading."

The swordsman growled "Agreed but we need the money."

"Money…we always seem to be needing more." she said somewhat resigned.

Sighing Zabuza turned to his companion "Yes because life goes on. We need food to live but neither you nor I are farmers so we have to use money."

"What if I gave you money?" both of them stopped and turned to the voice, some dozen feet in front of them was Rage.

Zabuza grabbed Kubikiribocho and Haku her needles but neither attacked, he was a ninja, like them so stealth was to be expected. Wearing no headband meant they were literally trying to figure him out with no clues "Who are you?" Zabuza prodded.

Stepping out of the forest and leaning against a tree the visitor answered "I am Rage. I'm here to offer you a job I think you'll enjoy."

Haku stared at the man from behind her mask "We already have a job here." tightening her grip on the needles she hissed "Go away." something about this man was setting her on edge.

Continuing on Rage expanded "Then I'll wait until the job is done. I won't take no for an answer."

That started them to attack. Zabuza rushed forward with an overhead cut while Haku filled the area with mirrors, both of them were rushing headlong into the fight and holding nothing back. Rage waited until the sword was right over his head before responding. A roar that pushed the swordsman and the fake hunter away and distorted the mirrors making them unusable for her. Haku adjusted by shattering the mirror into needles and raining them down on Rage while Zabuza fired a water dragon.

It was a well prepared attack combination, the water dragon covered a huge swath of the ground while the needles covered the air and the wind sharpened tips would rip through while the dragon would crush with water pressure leaving the options of dealing with them far and few between.

Rage did not even try to deal with it. Staying perfectly still he entered sage mode and allowed the needles to hit him doing no damage as they shattered against his hardened flesh. The dragon charged forward and even with sage mode it would do damage and having to deal with the needles left little time.

Forming a rasengan and changing it's shape to a flat disk provided the perfect answer as it split the dragon in two and allowed him sufficient space to plan his next move. Haku used the snow to make ice clones while the dragon had melted some of the snow allowing her master to make his specialty water clones changing the tides from 2 to 12. Wanting to test the possible recruits more Rage didn't follow suit with shadow clones but allowed his senses to expand and cover the entire area in a far more through search than normal. As the swords and needles flew around him Rage dodge by a hair's breadth and relied solely on his hand-to-hand fighting to get a clue as to how strong they really were.

Both the missing-nin knew they weren't seeing the full scope of Rage's power but they didn't really have the ability to press him further and their clones kept disappearing one after another, succumbing to the brutal attacks he threw out on occasion.

Zabuza was never one to talk during a fight much less to plan with an ally but he shouted "We need something different!"

Everyone disengaged yet kept their stance as they backed away from each other. Rage looked at the duo before the forest around them, the small clearing having grown much wider "I think this size is good…" he quickly molded the chakra he needed before casting the jutsu without seals.

The light of the sun turned black and then they were in a world drained of color and a negative of itself, the snow was black and the huge clear patches of ground were white. Zabuza growled and held his sword tighter "What the hell is this?"

Rage seemed to just appear where he was in the regular world "This is a forbidden technique called 'Black World' while we see things as normal time around us no time is passing in the real world." they couldn't tell but he had a fox's grin "And things are reversed, mirrored, twisted then flipped so they look the same…however, nothing is, even I don't know where things are going to go so you might think twice about attacking."

Haku looked to her master who nodded and she threw the needles. Four needles flew, one embedded itself in the ground inches from her feet, another grazed Zabuza's far side right under his arm, the third looked like Rage spit it out while the fourth impaled Haku's left calf.

The ice user let out a cry at the piercing pain and seemingly in a flash Rage was right in front of them. Zabuza instinctively went to attack but hesitated since he didn't know what would happen if he did-possibly Haku would get even more injured.

Kneeling Rage jerked the needle out but covered the wound with a hand that in the black light of the world glowed an odd white-but-not and the hole closed itself leaving no sign of what had happened.

In this place he knew they wouldn't attack, there were simply too many factors that would render an attack useless at best. "Since I won't ask you to give up this job I'll give you this." a small charm bracelet made of black beads was handed to Haku "After you're through with this job or you're in trouble break them and I'll be there. I would like to have you work with me." he stood up and walked past them before tossing back "Just use them before you die."

Without even a whisper the world was back to normal and Rage was gone. Haku tucked the beads in her belt before letting out a shuddering breath and looking at her leg where a small silver dot finished glowing leaving nothing but pure unmarred flesh beneath.

* * *

Naruto clenched his hand tightly as the burning pain assaulted his nerves. Black World was forbidden for many reasons but he had used it anyways. Slowly the burning subsided as Kurama healed him, however, the fox was silent instead of his usual talkative self.

Slowly stepping away from the wall he made his way deeper into the compound, the idiot bandits were in the middle of the room planning their next attack like fools, not even realizing that they were being observed or that the most powerful 'member' wasn't there. Idiots.

Breathing he settled against a rafter and listened as he channeled chakra into his hand to alleviate the bit of burning that was still there.

* * *

Itachi sighed tiredly as he walked up the mountain side, the only reason he was pretending to be part of this gang was sheer numbers. That was the only reason Kohna had even been worried about them. His thought turned from the village to who was in the village and he wondered how his brother was doing.

His thoughts were derailed as he got to the entrance of the old mine they were using as a base, it reeked as always and he rolled his eyes. Walking in he noticed the silence but wasn't put off by it, if they had been drinking, as they had when he left, then they might have passed out.

Then he walked into the main room and gasped.

Carnage. The band of almost 1,000 lay dead. Slaughtered. Body parts littered not only the floor but the walls as well and blood dripped from the ceiling as well.

Activating his sharingan he noticed the only other living person in the room who was previously hidden behind a mound of bodies. Stepping around he found a man who was absolutely pristine sitting on a bench drinking out of a bottle with a slender belt like sword that he barely recognized as the Urumi.

"Who are you?" he asked as he prepared to run, knowing that fighting somebody who could do all this was a bad idea.

Setting the bottle down on the very bloody table the mystery man replied "Call me Rage. I came here to recruit you Itachi." gesturing for the other man to sit beside him he sealed his weapon and continued "I know you were spying here for the Hokage, I know you killed your clan to stop a civil war."

"Who did you hear that from?" Itachi asked with voice on edge and eyes morphing into the Mangekyo.

"I have my own spies but I am slightly bothered you've forgotten me…and what happened."

Thinking deeply his eyes widened "Naruto?" the blond pulled open the collar of his cloak and gave a genuine smile "What happened to you after-" he suddenly stopped, knowing what happened next was something harsh.

"After I was crucified by that mob?"


End file.
